The robot, Sophia, was created by a startup out of Hong Kong called Hanson Robotics. Sophia’s appearance is said to be modeled after classic film actress Audrey Hepburn. The SophiaBot website states: “I’m a real, live electronic girl. I would like to go out into the world and live with people. I can serve them, entertain them, and even help the elderly and teach kids.”

Sophia’s claim to fame is that she’s able to learn from the humans around her. Of the unique skill, she says on the website that “every interaction I have with people has an impact on how I develop and shapes who I eventually become. So please be nice to me as I would like to be a smart, compassionate robot.” Which is a necessary request, given how Twitter almost instantly turned Microsoft’s AI, Tay, into a hate-spewing machine.

We may be far from robots that are indistinguishable from humans — if such an outcome is even possible or desirable — but even relatively small steps certainly give us a glimpse into the possible future of robotics.

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